Dungeons and Dragons and Debt...Oh my!

I realize that the preceding chart is probably very hard to read on the blog, so please take a second to click it and see the actual image. It is the Hierarchy of Nerdiness, created by the fine folks at The Brunching Shuttlecocks. I have long labored under the knowledge that I am at what could be considered the third level of this chart at the "video gamer" level and I'm perfectly fine with that. I play video games, watch movies like Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, have movie posters in my apartment and have shirts with Super Mario and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on them (along with one worn by most of the Catholic University Swim Team showing my face and the the caption "wanna play with my Wii?" - long story from my time as swim team captain...) and you know what...I'm okay with that. I actually feel that there's an acceptable level of nerdiness that's just enough to add some flavor to any social group.

However...

Looking at this same chart, you may notice that just underneath the "video gamer" level lies a dark pit of insidious evil from which few have returned. While I know I am nowhere near its black depths, the mere proximity of it to my own location on this chart is enough to cast the dark shadow of fear on my heart. That's right...this place from which there is no return is ROLE PLAYING GAMING! (dun dun duuuuuun)

Now, I realize that I have until now mentioned things like ARGs in this blog. Also, in my life as a gamer I've repeatedly held reverence for games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and have even been working on a similar game for my own indie game company. But role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons are an entirely different beast completely. If you think back to high school or college, these were the kids staying in their rooms on Saturday nights while the rest of us went out, gathering around a table to talk of wizards, werewolves, and polyhedral dice while enjoying a medieval feast of Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

A feast that only the most powerful warriors can handle...

So imagine, if you will, the twist my gut endured when one of my thesis advocates suggested analyzing the game Dungeons and Dragons for my research. Was this the small push, nay, the slight breeze that would have me tumbling my way into a level of geekdom from which I'd never return? As stated before, I am admittedly a bit of a nerd, but in a fun way...there are some levels of nerdery which I dare not descend to. Unfortunately, I realized that my quest for a great thesis was going to lead me there whether I liked it or not.

I tried to find ways of denying that it would be helpful, but I just couldn't. The reason that it works so well is the Dungeon Master. For those of you who don't know, each game of D&D has players who act as the adventurers, and a referee-type person known as the Dungeon Master who describes the adventure to the other players and reads the results of their actions. It is also the Dungeon Master's responsibility to create the story setting for the game and design the dungeon layout. His or her design is usually greatly influenced by the story that he or she wishes to tell, and thus gamespace is created via narrative.

Highly recommended

One famous story of a D&D game is found in the book Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Popular Culture by David Kushner (where I learned all about this Dungeon Master stuff...no I have never played.) During the design and development of the game Doom, John Carmack and John Romero played a game of D&D during which Carmack designed one of the most elaborate game worlds ever seen. The game lasted for months as they traveled through the vast landscape. One of the laws of the in this place was that the dark sword, named Daikatana, should never be claimed lest the world utterly collapse upon itself and end all existance. So in a characteristic act of mischief, Romero grabbed it. The implied gamespace became so real in the minds of the players that it completely collapsed, as stipulated by Dungeon Master Carmack, and the game abruptly ended, living on only in items named after elements of that game in future titles developed by the Two Johns. The preceding story helped a lot, but my mind still labored on how to learn about the game without playing it. Unfortunately I could not find a way to truly understand the concept of a Dungeon Master without experiencing it somehow for myself. I went to the local Borders with money in my hand, ready to accept my undeniable destiny.

Then I saw it...

The D&D display at Borders had 3 books: The Player's Handbook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monster Manual, each selling for $35-40 a piece. This also did not include any of the equipment necessary to play the game, just the rules for playing different characters and knowing what monsters there were. I COULDN'T AFFORD TO BECOME A DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS PLAYER IF I WANTED TO! The publishers of the game must think that, like in a game of D&D, money and golden treasure can be found under every rock and in the remains of every dead animal (players of video game RPGs, you know what I'm talking about...why do rats need to carry purses of gold and a magic swords?). So I bought the Dungeon Master's Guide, figuring that I could get all the information I really needed from that and observe a group playing or find information online to fill in the blanks.

Poor guy...he just saw his credit card bill

Like the way that the game is sold, however, the Dungeon Master book is yet another piece of marketing genius. It really only gives you the Dungeon Master information. Many of the references in the book to how the characters play the game is very vague and often cross-references the Player's Handbook. So even as a new player who only wants to be a Dungeon Master, you would still need to buy the character book to really understand the game. Not only that, but in the Dungeon Master book it also describes how, in order to get the best experience possible, a player should buy character miniatures to keep track of character and monster locations on the dungeon map, a stand up "Dungeon Master's Screen" with printed information and quick references on game rules, and as many 4, 6, 10, 12, and 20-sided die that they can "to make attacks where you roll multiple polyhedral die go smoother." As if that wasn't enough, the last page of the book is an ad for a web service that allows you to build and track your games online, which costs a further monthly fee. With all of that, I can safely say that there is no way I can even imagine becoming a D&D player. With all the money I would have to spend, I'll stick to researching my Dungeon Master's Guide and leave the adventuring to the rich. And honestly, as many jokes as we all make about D&D players, they aren't nerds for making D&D the focus of their lives. They're just trying to make good on their ridiculous investment.

Is this enough to make my attacks go smoothly?

Oh Wizards of the Coast (company that makes D&D and all those addictive money-draining customizable card games) you are truly evil...

Riddle me this...riddle me that...

Yeah yeah, I know the upcoming Batman movie, The Dark Knight, is about the Joker, but a current advertising campaign for the new movie is more like something done in the familiar idiom of the Riddler. The Dark Knight ARG (alternate reality game) puts players in the shoes of a resident of Gotham City, guiding them through story events set in the fictional corrupt and crime-ridden city and letting them take part. While this sounds like one of those live action role-playing game events (LARPs), whose gameplay requires players to take on the roles of different personas similar to a game of Dungeons and Dragons, the Dark Knight ARG gives information to players during their day-to-day lives and allows them to take part in the game through even mundane means. If the concept of an ARG is foreign to you, unfiction.com, a website devoted to the game-style, defines it as this:

An alternate reality game is an interactive fusion of creative writing, puzzle-solving, and team-building, with a dose of role playing thrown in. It utilizes several forms of media in order to pass clues to the players, who solve puzzles in order to win pieces of the story being played out.

Clues can be passed through web pages, email, voicemail, snail mail, television advertisements, movie posters, campus billboards, newspaper classifieds… really, in any way that information can be passed.

(source: http://www.unfiction.com/history/)

The game, set in the Batman universe, allows players to interact with any number of characters from the famous comic book and movie universe. In order to be introduced to the game, all the player has to do is access one of the game's more current websites and give an e-mail address or phone number. Or go to this website, it is a Wiki that tracks the progress of the game.

"Tell me kid: you ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?"

Whoops...wrong Joker...

Yes, it's safe...

The game began in May of 2007 when a website advertising The Dark Knight went up called Ibelieveinharveydent.com. The website was a poster for Gotham District Attorney candidate Harvey Dent, played in the movie by Aaron Eckhart. Soon defaced joker cards were appearing in comic book stores with the a web address written on them: www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com. This led to a Jokerized version of the Harvey Dent campaign sign. The site later changed to an apparently blank site that revealed pages of Joker laughter and the message "see you in December" if the visitor highlighted the text on the page. The game remained stagnant until July of '07 when "Jokerized" $1 bills were handed out at the San Diego Comic-Con. These led to whysoserious.com, which was a recruiting site for the Joker's gang. It told participants to be at a certain place on a certain day. When the players arrived a phone number was written in the sky. This sent them on a scavenger hunt through whatever city they were in. When all the clues were solved, a website with the first trailer for the movie was revealed.

A "Gotham City Police" document detailing the original Joker event

Most of the game's scenarios play out similarly, some involving other characters. They usually end with a new trailer or poster being revealed. I became involved in the game in two different ways. While looking on IGN.com, I read an article following the game. I was led to two sites, one was the reactivated Ibelieveinharveydent.com, which became his campaign site. I signed up for it and occasionally receive e-mails from them about the campaign and messages to go vote in the Gotham City Elections (Dent won, the bill to have the police put "masked vigilantes" at the bottom of their priority list lost by a 1% margin.) My other introduction, however, was a little more of what an ARG is about. I found a link to a website called acmesecuritysystems.com that had a security camera feed on it. IGN reported that Joker's henchmen got a password and ID to enter in the site through other parts of the game, so I went to the site and entered that info along with my e-mail and phone number. Imagine my shock when my phone rang a second later and I was greeted with the following message:

This is Jim Gordon, major crimes, Gotham Police Department. Not the voice you were expecting...huh? We have your name. We have your number. We have your computer's IP address. So what I'm saying is, we have you. Consider yourself the Gotham Police Department's newest recruit. You see, this works one of two ways, either you're going to jail for conspiracy in a criminal enterprise, or, you'll work for me. We'll be in touch. Oh, have a great day!

Not again...I mean...what?

I then began receiving e-mails from Gordon (Batman's ally in the movies and books) with tasks. Unfortunately I missed the first one he sent out, which is a bummer because it had the players "intercepting" actual care packages sent to crooked cops. Oh if I had only gotten one of those cell phones that receive texts from the Joker...

So why am I writing about this? It's fun to see how games like this can "break the fourth wall" and seep into our world this way. Sure, people have been playing role-playing games for years, and there are the LARPs out there where people go have a role-playing game in a real urban setting, acting out different characters and even involving non-players at times, but a game like this puts the real you into the game world. You write e-mails, take phone calls, and walk around your city like you normally would, but at the end of the day you get a new part of a story revealed to you or a new promotional material, if you are playing an advertising ARG.

This is certainly not the first ARG. That distinction belongs to The Beast, played in 2001. It chronicled a murder mystery that players had to solve by visiting over 30 websites. The next was Majestic, created by Electronic Arts. These games eventually grew to be used as advertising campaigns and were involved in the campaigns for Halo 2, the movie A.I: Artificial Intelligence, and for Audi motors. With games moving away from the boards and out from behind the TV screen, this presents interesting new possibilities for game design.

There is also still one going on for the movie Cloverfield that even involved part of the DVD packaging. It gives a lot of the backstory to the monster and is even alluded to in the movie: Rob's new job is working for a Japanese company with ties to the monster (he doesn't know about it) and one of the main characters in the game is a friend of the characters in the movie and is passed out on Rob's couch during the party scene of the film. Current game events have you trying to find the whereabouts for the passed out girl's missing boyfriend, who may have been involved with an environmental group fighting Rob's new employer. The site following the Cloverfield ARG can be found at this site. Obviously, the events in these kinds of games are very pervasive and can take forms that you may not even foresee. Who knows? You may be playing a game now and not even know it.

The best deal in gaming - and thesis research

One of my favorite things about my thesis is that the subject matter allows me to spend hours playing video games and actually have it count as progress. Being a rabid Nintendo fan I've been working my way through games like Super Mario Galaxy, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid Prime to "experience" some of my thesis points myself. Nintendo, and particularly designer Shigeru Miyamoto, have always been great at creating games that make the player want to explore every nook and cranny of a gamespace. They also lead players through spaces in incredibly accessible and easy-to-learn ways.

All of your happy childhood memories...this guy ^

So when my friends began badgering me to play Portal for the PC, I kept telling them, "no, I think I have all the games I'll need...but thanks." I staved off my curiosity until I was in Target one day with my girlfriend. As we walked past the computer game aisle I saw it on the end, in a big display as if the gods of gaming heard my friends' suggestion and forced it upon me in agreement - Portal,included with a few other games in a package called The Orange Box.

Now, while I am mostly a console gamer, I had certainly heard of The Orange Box when it came out for Christmas last year and did have a passing interest in it. I had also played the original Half-Life when it came out in 1998. The Orange Box is a package of five games, all built on the Half-Life 2's Source Engine which I thought was pretty cool. Then I saw the price tag, and it became very cool...FIFTY DOLLARS! Let's recap for those reading this who aren't regular gamers: Valve Software is one of the most acclaimed video game companies out there and their Half-Life series is their pride and joy. Their games are all very intelligent in design, and they take the utmost care to make everything very exciting and accessible to players. So having five games of ridiculously high production value and design for fifty bucks (the usual price of a single game) is quite the deal.

You need to go to confession after a steal like this

It being close to my birthday, and my girlfriend still without present ideas, I made a strong case for The Orange Box. Upon leaving the store with it in my hands I promptly went home and loaded it onto my computer, something I had not done with a game since the long-gone days of Jedi Knight. I had always thought about playing Half-Life 2, but this is the shove I needed to do it. To my surprise, when I opened the game it turned out to be EXACTLY what I needed to play for thesis. The game artfully places players in a space and directs them seamlessly from one rewarding area/encounter/vista/battle to the next in a rhythmic and engaging sequence that always leaves the player wanting more. The game does a very good job pulling at the fears of the player as well. One popular example involves the Poison Head Crab creature, whose "neurotoxin venom" causes the main character, Gordon Freeman, to lose all but one point of health points.

I hate these things...

Because of their powerful attack and their usual proximity to other powerful creatures, they have become quite feared among Half-Life players. During play testing, the testers apparently became so afraid of them that when they heard their distinctive rattlesnake-like hisses and warning sounds, they dropped whatever they were doing, even if they were being attacked, to kill the Poison Headcrab. That's a strong reaction to an enemy in a video game. The game also creates different emotions with the spaces it uses. It rewards the player with open vistas after difficult battles, pulls them into dark and unpleasant caves (often home to hoards of Headcrabs like the one pictured above) and has them navigate over vertigo-inducing pits.

If I had to choose one game that is "required playing" for my upcoming "Game Design and Architecture" course, this would be it. I even wrote a journal of my experiences playing the game and may post some of it at a later date once my course kicks off.

Luckily I found a feature called "developer commentary" that offered insights into the thoughts of the people who played the game. After playing through almost all of it I realized that they use a lot of the same ideas that I am discussing in my thesis. The first commentary piece in each game is a message from Valve founder Gabe Newell, inviting players to e-mail him with feedback. Realizing the potential for possible contacts for my thesis, I sent him this e-mail:

Dear Mr. Newell,

My name is Chris Totten. I am a graduate student at the Catholic University of America's school of architecture, concentrating in digital media (3D modeling, movie editing, that kind of stuff.) I am writing you because I am currently working on my thesis, which is on game design and architecture. The overall concept is that games use different methods with which to create meaningful interactive spaces for a player and how these concepts can be used in real architecture. I am specifically studying the ways that game designers condition and teach a player to use the game space, use spaces to convey meaning and narrative elements, and give players supplemental information in real time.

I just wanted to thank you for your games, Half-Life 2, it's additional episodes, and Portal. They have been a great help in my research and I have just finished a 28 page journal on my experiences playing these games and how their designs reinforce many of the teaching methods and psychological experiences that my project talks about. I must say, there is a great deal of content and I feel I have found a treasure trove of proof just within The Orange Box. Your developer commentary has also been a great help. I am working my way through it right now. It further reinforces some of the theories I have had about games, and it is nice to hear the developers (indirectly) helping me out. As a part of the project, I am also teaching a class on game design to architecture students to see if they can implement some of the game design ideas I have researched into their own architecture. I am an amateur game designer myself so I have done lots of research on the topic, including reading about how you rewarded the player in the original Half-Life in the book Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals.

I realize you are busy (as stated in the intro to Episode Two's commentary) and that you receive thousands of e-mails a day. So thank you for taking the time to read mine, as lengthy as it is. I realize this is a complete shot in the dark, and that many game companies have corporate policies about not being able to help students, but your insight or that of other members of your design team would be invaluable. If at all possible I would like to set up an interview or otherwise discuss some of my ideas with someone on your staff. If you are interested, please contact me at this e-mail address (ctotten87@yahoo.com) and I can send a copy of my thesis/class outline and/or my Half-Life 2 journal.

Thank you for your time, I can't wait for Episode Three!

Chris Totten

I didn't really expect much, but one day, after moving into my new apartment, I opened my e-mail to find this:

Hi Chris,

Gabe forwarded your email to me in part because prior to joining Valve, I practiced as an architect for 19 years.
I’m not much of a gamer, but like you, my interest lies in how games can be used as a tool to aid designers to make informed decisions during the design process.

I would be glad to talk to you & assist you in any way I can & if not, I can direct you to those who can.

All the best w/ your thesis project,

(Valve employee name omitted from this blog post)

A reenactment of my response to the preceding e-mail

Needless to say, I've found a Holy Grail of information in The Orange Box, and plan to squeeze every helpful ounce of content out of it. If you're a gamer looking for a great deal and haven't picked this up: do it. If you're in my class next fall and reading this: it's not "required" but highly recommended. This is a fun and very enlightening package.

Introduction

Welcome to the blog!

My name is Chris Totten and I am a graduate student at The Catholic University of America's School of Architecture and Planning with a concentration in Digital Media. That's my usual intro to business letters and anything that gets sent out with a resume anyway...

I am also an amateur game designer and game design theorist. In our free time, a few friends of mine and I design and create our own independent video games under the name "Ragnarok Games." At times I have even been sort of a "freelance educator", in that I love to teach and take whatever opportunities (swim instructor, teaching assistant, lecturer on how to use Photoshop, etc.) I can get.

As a part of the curriculum for CUA's Architecture Graduate program, I have to write a thesis paper and design an appropriate building based on the ideas from that paper. Having been an architecture student and through teaching them as a TA (teaching assistant) I have noticed that a lot of students are bored with the "old school" ways that architecture is taught. They want to stop dropping white boxes from the sky and make something that is exciting for the person who is actually inside the building.

Enter Game Design

Bringing some of my own interests into the project, (If I'm spending two years on this thing I'd better make it something fun!) I've decided to do my thesis on game design. Tentatively called Game Design and Architecture, it will discuss many of the game design principles that I have found through my own reading, research, and experience with games and find ways that they can be used to inform the field of architecture.

It will look at the psychological and sociological reasons that humans find pleasure and other emotions in built space and discuss how these instincts can be drawn upon to create architecture that invites exploration, much like video games do. It will also look at a game's ability to tell a story or give other types of information to a player in real time and discover how architecture can do the same. Finally, it will look at how modern technology has been and can work together with the built environment to inform its occupants on what's happening in the real and virtual worlds around them.

So why is all this being posted on Blogger?

As I said before, I enjoy teaching, so when I looked at the problem I wanted to solve for this thesis I realized that researching, learning, and writing about these things myself was all well and good, but stands up little to someone who would wonder if it could be taught successfully to a class of students.

So I got a class >:-D

While I am developing the course, I will post my thoughts on the material in this blog, which will hopefully become a useful resource in its own right. I would invite other game designers or architects to visit to read and comment (or offer me a job? please? hey, a guy's gotta try...) whenever they wish. I'd also like students, not only my own, to come by and check this all out. In the interest of the class being an experiment (the students have a design project at the beginning of the course solely reliant on their architectural knowledge...so no game design info) I won't be posting any actual theories until the Fall, but will use the Summer to comment on the experience and progress of making the course, any game designs I come up with, or even any randomly wacky thoughts I have about happenings in the game industry.

So please, enjoy, comment, and have a good one!